Pages

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Cinco de Mayo Commemorates La Batalla de Puebla

BanderasNews.comMay 5, 2015

banderasnews.com

Cinco de Mayo is a significant date in Mexican history. On May
5, 1862, Mexicans won the battle at Puebla against the much larger French army.
Despite being outnumbered, the Mexican army was victorious.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Lots of us have heard of the Mexican holiday
Cinco de Mayo, but not everyone knows what it celebrates. It is not, as
some believe, Mexico's Independence Day. The festivities that occur on the fifth
day of May commemorate a battle that was fought almost 50 years after Mexico
declared its independence from Spain.

Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico's independence, but it is not Independence
Day. Mexico asserted its independence from Spain on September 16, 1810. The
festivities on May 5 are about another battle for independence - a battle fought
against the French in 1862.

After the 1846 Mexican-American War, in which boundaries were clarified after
Texas became the 28th U.S. state, Mexico entered a period of political and
financial hardship. The Mexican civil war lasted from 1858 to 1861 and left
Mexico without a stable support structure. To supplement a deflated economy,
Mexico borrowed a great deal of money from other countries. Among those
countries were England, Spain and France.

In 1862, all three European powers came to collect. Their navies arrived in
Mexico to demand payment and land to settle the debts, but Mexico offered
vouchers instead, essentially asking for more time. England and Spain accepted
and went home; France invaded, seeking total control of Mexico. Under Napoleon
III, French troops began at the shore and tried to make their way to Mexico
City. Before they could get to the capital, they were stopped at the state of
Puebla, where a major battle took place on May 5, 1862: La Batalla de
Puebla.
Outnumbered and outarmed, the Mexican soldiers at Puebla, under the command
of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin, managed to defeat the French forces.
Ultimately, the Mexican victory at Puebla only delayed the French invasion of
Mexico City, and a year later, the French occupied Mexico.
But the Mexican men who fought at Puebla nonetheless defied the odds to
defend its independence. Cinco de Mayo celebrates that bravery and
determination, and commemorates Mexico's fight to ward off imperialist
forces.

The city of Puebla holds a big annual celebration on the anniversary
of the battle. But in most of Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is not really celebrated.
The real celebration takes place on Independence Day, the Sixteenth of September
(or Diez y Seis de Septiembre), when everybody celebrates similar to the
way the Fourth of July is celebrated in the U.S., with feasting, fireworks and
parades dedicated to celebrating Mexico's freedom from European external powers.